“Farming the sun” or “coal legacy”? Social perspectives on solar energy projects in Appalachia

IF 6.9 2区 经济学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES Energy Research & Social Science Pub Date : 2024-09-04 DOI:10.1016/j.erss.2024.103656
{"title":"“Farming the sun” or “coal legacy”? Social perspectives on solar energy projects in Appalachia","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.erss.2024.103656","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Solar projects can provide economic benefits to landowning farmers and rural communities. But residents' concerns have spurred anti-solar local ordinances in some farming communities, including coal legacy communities. We interviewed 32 farmers and 16 nonfarmers in Appalachian counties in Pennsylvania and Maryland to understand their views on solar projects. The framework of place attachment provides a lens to understand these views. Farmers underscored their farming identity and their ethical obligations to protect farmlands, and rural residents expressed emotional ties to their farming communities and landscape. Generally, we find that supporters see solar leasing as a protector of farmland, by providing the financial means for farmers to continue farming and owning farmland. Conversely, opponents saw solar leasing as a threat to farmlands and rural communities by causing farmland loss, jeopardizing tenant farmers' livelihoods and marring the rural landscape. Farmers supportive of solar leasing explained the types of solar projects that better complement their place attachment, such as smaller-scale projects that fit into the rural landscape and community solar projects that reinforce shared community values. We find that these communities' fossil fuel legacies have varying effects, with some seeing solar projects as an opportunity to revitalize their communities and enabling place continuity, while a few see them as a threat to their coal heritage. Drawing on these findings, we discuss how understanding residents' views on solar projects regarding their place attachment can inform the design of state policies on solar.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48384,"journal":{"name":"Energy Research & Social Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Energy Research & Social Science","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629624002470","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Solar projects can provide economic benefits to landowning farmers and rural communities. But residents' concerns have spurred anti-solar local ordinances in some farming communities, including coal legacy communities. We interviewed 32 farmers and 16 nonfarmers in Appalachian counties in Pennsylvania and Maryland to understand their views on solar projects. The framework of place attachment provides a lens to understand these views. Farmers underscored their farming identity and their ethical obligations to protect farmlands, and rural residents expressed emotional ties to their farming communities and landscape. Generally, we find that supporters see solar leasing as a protector of farmland, by providing the financial means for farmers to continue farming and owning farmland. Conversely, opponents saw solar leasing as a threat to farmlands and rural communities by causing farmland loss, jeopardizing tenant farmers' livelihoods and marring the rural landscape. Farmers supportive of solar leasing explained the types of solar projects that better complement their place attachment, such as smaller-scale projects that fit into the rural landscape and community solar projects that reinforce shared community values. We find that these communities' fossil fuel legacies have varying effects, with some seeing solar projects as an opportunity to revitalize their communities and enabling place continuity, while a few see them as a threat to their coal heritage. Drawing on these findings, we discuss how understanding residents' views on solar projects regarding their place attachment can inform the design of state policies on solar.

查看原文
分享 分享
微信好友 朋友圈 QQ好友 复制链接
本刊更多论文
"耕种阳光 "还是 "煤炭遗产"?阿巴拉契亚太阳能项目的社会视角
太阳能项目可以为拥有土地的农民和农村社区带来经济效益。但在一些农业社区,包括煤炭遗留社区,居民的担忧引发了反太阳能的地方法规。我们采访了宾夕法尼亚州和马里兰州阿巴拉契亚县的 32 位农民和 16 位非农居民,以了解他们对太阳能项目的看法。地方依恋框架为理解这些观点提供了一个视角。农民强调了他们的农业身份和保护农田的道德义务,而农村居民则表达了与农业社区和景观的情感联系。一般来说,我们发现支持者将太阳能租赁视为农田的保护者,因为它为农民继续耕作和拥有农田提供了经济手段。相反,反对者则认为太阳能租赁是对农田和农村社区的威胁,会造成农田流失,危及佃农的生计,破坏农村景观。支持太阳能租赁的农民解释说,太阳能项目的类型能更好地补充他们对地方的依恋,例如规模较小、适合农村景观的项目,以及能加强社区共同价值观的社区太阳能项目。我们发现,这些社区的化石燃料遗产产生了不同的影响,一些社区将太阳能项目视为振兴其社区和实现地方连续性的机会,而少数社区则将其视为对其煤炭遗产的威胁。根据这些发现,我们讨论了如何通过了解居民对太阳能项目的看法,为制定国家太阳能政策提供参考。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 去求助
来源期刊
Energy Research & Social Science
Energy Research & Social Science ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES-
CiteScore
14.00
自引率
16.40%
发文量
441
审稿时长
55 days
期刊介绍: Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) is a peer-reviewed international journal that publishes original research and review articles examining the relationship between energy systems and society. ERSS covers a range of topics revolving around the intersection of energy technologies, fuels, and resources on one side and social processes and influences - including communities of energy users, people affected by energy production, social institutions, customs, traditions, behaviors, and policies - on the other. Put another way, ERSS investigates the social system surrounding energy technology and hardware. ERSS is relevant for energy practitioners, researchers interested in the social aspects of energy production or use, and policymakers. Energy Research & Social Science (ERSS) provides an interdisciplinary forum to discuss how social and technical issues related to energy production and consumption interact. Energy production, distribution, and consumption all have both technical and human components, and the latter involves the human causes and consequences of energy-related activities and processes as well as social structures that shape how people interact with energy systems. Energy analysis, therefore, needs to look beyond the dimensions of technology and economics to include these social and human elements.
期刊最新文献
Making space for environmental justice in renewable energy planning Large inequalities in climate mitigation scenarios are not supported by theories of distributive justice Embracing complexity: Microgrids and community engagement in Australia Policy mixes for net-zero energy transitions: Insights from energy sector integration in Germany Enablers or barriers: The multifaceted tales of power generation companies in China's energy transition
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
现在去查看 取消
×
提示
确定
0
微信
客服QQ
Book学术公众号 扫码关注我们
反馈
×
意见反馈
请填写您的意见或建议
请填写您的手机或邮箱
已复制链接
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
×
扫码分享
扫码分享
Book学术官方微信
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术
文献互助 智能选刊 最新文献 互助须知 联系我们:info@booksci.cn
Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。
Copyright © 2023 Book学术 All rights reserved.
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号 京ICP备2023020795号-1